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The ‘Fight for $15’: Coming to a City Hall Near You

The Trump administration should show local officials the research proving that minimum wages cost jobs.

By

Michael Saltsman

Jan. 2, 2017 6:13 p.m. ET

Call it a New Year’s Day massacre for the entry-level job market: As 2017 dawned, the minimum wage went up in 19 states and more than 20 cities or counties. In California alone, 12 cities raised their starting pay requirement, some to as high as $13 an hour, compared with $7.25 for the federal minimum.

These local measures—the product of labor-backed advocacy campaigns such as the “Fight for $15”—are still a relatively new phenomenon. “Living wage” requirements for city contractors or recipients of local tax breaks have existed...